6.29.2003

The great Katharine Hepburn has died. She passed away today at her home in Connecticut. There will be many tributes to her from the media over the next several days, most of which will sum up her life and her work far better than I could. Instead, I'll recommend my favorite Katharine Hepburn movies. She starred in many good films, but these are the ones I can watch over and over:

Holiday
Adam's Rib
The Philadelphia Story
The African Queen
Summertime
The Lion in Winter


Hepburn's beauty, fierce intelligence and straightforward manner made her a model of the independent woman and an influential role model for me. She was an extraordinary woman.

6.27.2003

She doesn't live here anymore.

Tha National Do Not Call Registry is up and running. Take that, telemarketers! (Although, it looks like they're getting bogged down with hits - I can't find the server!)

6.26.2003

Sir Ian McKellen has update The White Book, his behind-the-scenes journal about filming the LOTR movies.

How about a heartwarming chicken story?

A Texas jury has found Chante Mallard guilty of murder in the death of the homeless man she struck with her car and then left to die embedded in her windshield. First of all, what a fast trial! Didn't it just begin on Monday or Tuesday? They should all be so quick.

Second, I have to say I agree with the verdict. She was obviously stoned out of her mind and should not have been driving, but even if it could be proved that she had no fault in the incident, that striking Mr. Biggs was purely an accident, her complete indifference in the face of another human being's suffering caused that man's death and she should pay for it. How completely self-absorbed and callous does a person have to be in order to drive with a dying man impaled on her windshield, partially inside her car and then leave him there, in her garage, to die?? Scared, schmared. There were numerous points at which she could have gotten help for him and at each step of the way she made a decision not to. And for that reason I think I think the verdict is just.

My mother is still having trouble with iron deficiency anemia (although it's not as severe as it was a year and a half ago, thank God), so the doctor ordered a new test for her: a capsule endoscopy.

Amazing.

6.24.2003

Yabba Dabba Doo

While updating a database at work today, I came across the quintessential Flintstones name: Roc Fieldstone.

For real!

6.23.2003

Sexie Sexie!

I purchased my ticket to see Eddie Izzard's show, Sexie, in Boston on October 24. I'll be going with Sheila, Holly and Krys. I am so psyched. So psyched, in fact, that when the time draws near I may not be able to wait and I'll end up draggin Colleen and/or my cousin Alesia with me to see him when he plays New York in early October. I'm so excited, I could poke a badger with a spoon.

(Not-So-Close) Brush With Fame

When we shut down the Waterbury office, we also shut down the mail server for the gplaw.com domain name. Even though there should not have been anyone receiving mail at that address for quite some time, there were still some employees (namely partners) who hadn't notified all the people they should have notified of their change of address (some changes having occurred last year). So, in order to catch any stray messages that may still be coming in, we configured our mail host to route any and all messages sent to someone@gplaw.com to my Inbox. As a result, I have to weed through an average of 250 e-mails each morning, mostly spam (over a thousand on Monday mornings). Every once in a while, I get an interesting e-mail, usually misdirected to gplaw.com because of a typo - attorneys sending documents to each other, friends trying to hook up for a drink, etc. If I catch one of these, I'll send off a quick note, informing them of their mistake.

One such e-mail came to me late last week, and I had to share it with you. It was from the booking agent for Pat Sajack's talk show on FOX News, sent to representatives of George Foreman, asking if he would be interested in appearing on Pat's show this Wednesday, the 25th. (The address was off by one letter, resulting in it coming to us). Oops! Being the good samaritan that I am, I immediately shot off a reply to the booking agent, letting him know of his mistake and kindly offering to appear on the show if George couldn't make it. Oddly enough, I didn't hear back from him. Nor do I know if they were able to book George for Wednesday. I'll have to check.

6.20.2003

OK, why hasn't anyone made this movie yet?

6.18.2003

Ruby




My sister Mary's beagle, Ruby, died suddenly yesterday. She was a good dog, and we'll all miss her very much.


6.17.2003

Here's a terrific article about James Marsters, his thoughts on the end of Buffy, the character of Spike and his upcoming project.

They say they go in 3s

I was waiting for the proverbial other shoe to drop (actually, it's the third shoe) after we lost Gregory Peck and David Brinkley on the same day. I thought that maybe we might get by without losing another famous person; then Hume Cronyn died yesterday. That sound you hear is the sound of a tremendous amount of class, integrity and talent being sucked from our culture in just a few days span.

6.13.2003

6.11.2003

As long as Dave and I walk the earth, no finger is safe.

Stop, Burn, Destroy

I downloaded a few apps recently that I've been pleased with (for the most part), and I thought I'd list them here for you (not sure about Mac versions, though).

The first was Pop-Up Stopper, by PanicWare. It's free, and catches most of the pop-ups out there. It also stops things like my comments boxes from popping up, but that's easily solved by holding down the control key while I click.

Next app is BurnQuick, an audio and data CD burner. It's cheap (I downloaded the 15-day eval, but it's only $15 to buy, and I'm going to), a small download (640k) and incredibly elegant and simple to use. BurnQuick integrates with your Windows interface, allowing you to simply right-click on a file and "burn" or add the file to queue for burning later on. No bulky, compicated menus and preferences to have to deal with; if all you're looking for is a quick and easy way to burn CDs, BurnQuick is the way to go.

My internet connection, while only a 56k dial-up and admittedly not blazingly fast, had slowed to a crawl. I was getting weird pop-ups upon connection, for installation of software that I could deduce was a web-tracking application. I decided to try a spyware app. I found a great one - Spybot - Search & Destroy. It's free, which is a good thing. Spybot scans your registry and cookies for spyware left behind by advertisers. I couldn't believe how much Spybot uncovered on my computer - and I thought I was being safe! I ran the scan last night, made the recommended fixes and my Internet connection is noticaby faster. PepiMK makes Spybot, which includes periodic updates so you can keep up with the latest web-tracking trends.

Well, I managed to watch the entire Tony Awards ceremony on Sunday night. Well, kinda watched - I sat at my computer in the other room, with a clear vantage point of the TV. The truly talented (and delicious) Hugh Jackman was great, I thought, and I only had to mute it during the acceptance speeches (with a few notable exceptions like the first winners, the gay couple who kissed onstage, and Vanessa Redgrave and Brian Dennehy - I get all embarrassed for them when the band starts to play them off the stage). I caught a bit of Conan's monologue tonight on Comedy Central. He made reference to some viewers protesting to CBS over the aforementioned gay kiss; which really surprised him, he said, because he "didn't think straight people watched the Tonys." Hehe.

Oh! I almost forgot to mention that I'm pretty sure I saw Colleen on TV, giving Bernadette Peters a much-deserved standing ovation. Almost as good as being there ;).

Ouch

Put me on the injured list again. This time it's the right hand. Well, the tip of my right middle finger, lol.

I was at a garden center on Sunday, finally buying my spring flowers for planting. The guy told me to pull my truck up so he could load everything into the back. After doing so, I got out of the truck and somehow managed to close my fingers in the door. The index and ring finger were just a little bruised, but the middle finger got pretty well smushed. I finally splinted it yesterday morning, but I was still unhappy with the way it looked and felt so I went and got an x-ray today. Diagnosis: I crushed the fingertip bone. Well done, Gina!

Can I just say, I never realized how much I relied on one finger to do so many simple tasks! (you dirty birds keep it to yourself;)

Rumsfeld's got a hardon for Iran, now.

6.06.2003

The X2 Guide to Foreign Policy.

Our fair Colleen turns 30 today! *Sniff* Seems just yesterday she was 29.

Happy Birthday, Coll!

Marty does love the camera. A true Dardis.

6.02.2003

Richard Chamberlain has come out of the closet, at last.